Goofin' Off With a Whale of a Day

This past weekend was filled with a lot of fun times with family.  You may recall we had a family wedding about a month ago.  Well, we had another wedding this past weekend with family that came in from out of town. As I mentioned in my last post, we had a family whale watching trip that we planned for last Friday.  The question of the day is...did we see any whales...oh, and how did the buckle compare?  Well, if you're dying to know, you can skip down past the project updates.

First off, I managed to completely finish the first set of blocks for the Chef Freddie's Favorites. Below is a picture of the first set of completed blocks. I love the bright colors. I am really happy with how they turned out.

First Set of Blocks Completed

I also managed to get pretty far on the putting together the sub-units for the second set of blocks. The block design is the same, it's just that the blues are a lighter shade of blue. I am more aware of how these blocks go together now, so this set of blocks should go together much more quickly.

Sub-Units for Second Set of Blocks - Sorry Camera Washed Out the Colors

Below is the latest update for Mickey and Pirate Friends cross stitch.  I got about 300 stitches in and added some more to Goofy's pirate hat.  

Mickey and Pirate Friends - As of 07/31/2017

Now more about our day of whale watching.  The day started early as we had to be down to the boat by 8:45 a.m. Our tour was running at almost full capacity.  They did have comfortable seats for everybody and our group of 7 was able to sit pretty closely together. We went through a short safety spiel and were on our way.

The naturalist on board had explained to us what to look for when spotting whales. Fortunately, I listened closely on my Alaska cruise a few years ago and knew exactly what to look for...the water spouts. You always see the water spouts first when they come to the surface. 

About 15 to 20 minutes after the left the dock, I saw a water spout and pointed it out just in time for the people around me to see the tail fluke go up into the air and under the water.  Everyone clapped. Pondering it later in the day, why is it we clap for such things? It's not like the whale was performing for us. He was just doing what comes naturally. However, we were smitten with this huge creature. 

Back of a Humpback Whale - Center of Photo

The captain, Captain Christopher the day we went, slowed the boat down to an idle as everyone scurried outside to the observation area to look around. After the whale didn't surface again for a few minutes, the naturalist saw a small pod of porpoises off the side and asked if that is what I had seen.  I said, no, I knew it was a whale and not a porpoise.  This thing was humongous. The naturalist estimated between 40 to 50 feet long.  We waited a few minutes more and then...another spout of water as the whale surfaced and we caught another shot of the tail fluke going under.

Tail Fluke of Humpback Whale

Another Picture of the Tail Fluke of Humpback Whale

We spent about 45 minutes watching as this beautiful creature would resurface every few minutes. Law requires the boat to turn its engines off if a whale gets within so many feet...and we were lucky enough at one point that we had to turn the motor off.  Yay!  We didn't get any pictures at that time because we were all so busy watching the whale. And that's where, I believe, things started to go wrong with the whale watching cruise. But more on that in a moment.

After about 45 minutes we were all herded back into the cabin of the boat as we were going to head out to where the Orca whales usually are. That's when we were served up the blueberry buckle. As I mentioned in my last post, I had been looking forward to trying the buckle because I'd had one at the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival last year that was heaven sent. Would this one compare? Um, not really. It was really more of a blueberry coffee cake than a buckle. It was good but not like what I had partaken of at Epcot that has me drooling every time I think of it.  

Blueberry Buckle - Whale Watching

Berry Buckle - Epcot

About the time we finished our buckles, the captain came on the speakers and said we would be making an out-of-the-way detour because there was a medical emergency. When the boat had turned off the motor for the whale, the boat had done quite a bit of rocking and bobbing. Apparently, this did not sit well for one of the passengers who appeared to get very seasick very quickly.  We headed in towards Deception Pass and waited for the passenger and her group to disembark and get picked up by an ambulance. This took us way off course and took up a large chunk of time, so there wasn't enough time left to get out to the Orca whales that day. 

Overall, I'd give the trip a four out of five stars. The boat was clean and comfortable. The viewing platforms were tiered so everyone had no problem seeing the whale...even from the back of the platform (which is important since I am only 5'1" on a good day). The blueberry buckle was really blueberry coffee cake and not a buckle but still moist and good. 

The tour company guarantees you see a whale or you get another excursion free. We did see our whale, so we didn't expect to get a free tour.  However, since a good part of the trip was spent taking a detour for a medical emergency, it would have been nice if they had offered at least a $20 discount toward a future excursion.  We did miss out on potentially seeing more whales because of the detour. 

And that, my friends, is my whale of a tale today. It also has me thinking, if you could see any type of wildlife in its natural habitat, what YOU like to see? I guess I still have Orca whales on my bucket list, what's on yours?

Have a magical day!

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